Exercise equipment are responsible for a large number of injuries every year, some being fatal. A bench press is one of those exercise equipment that is notorious for causing serious injuries as the users try to lift very heavy weight. A conventional bench press comprises of a bench and a set of uprights with racks to hold a barbell. A user lies down on the bench, lifts the barbell off the upright racks, and repeatedly lowers the barbell towards the chest and then pushes it back up until the arms are straight. At the end of the exercise, the user puts the barbell back on the racks. If, at any time during this exercise, the user cannot properly control the barbell, it may fall on the user's face, neck, chest, or abdomen, resulting in serious bodily injuries and even asphyxiation. To prevent such accidents, especially when using heavier weights, users usually have one or two spotters to help them put the barbell back on the racks.
The prior art provides several different bench presses to prevent such accidents. For example, the U.S. Patent application No. 2010/0130335 A1 by Hoobler and U.S. Pat. No. 7,591,771 B2 issued to Rullestad et al. disclose two different bench presses having safety features. However, the prior art bench presses that have some sort of safety means limit user's movement and the space in which the user can exercise. The safety features have to be located within the grip length of a barbell. The grip length is about 1.31 meter (4.3 feet or 51.6 inches), which provides a defined space in which the safety features have to be located. However, the safety features in the prior art are located in much smaller distances than 51.6 inches. This limits user's arm movement during the exercise. To alleviate this problem, in some devices the barbell is suspend from the top. All such safety features modify the basic use of a bench press and do not necessarily allow for a user to lift the weight correctly, unencumbered and freely. As such, they are not well received by many users who prefer using standard bench presses without significant alterations. The presently provided bench press allows for a safe, an unencumbered and correct use of a bench press with free weights.